[Global Times reporter Xing Xiaojing] The latest data released by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government Statistics Department shows that the number of newborns in Hong Kong in 2021 will be 38,684, down 8% from 2020.
Hong Kong's "South China Morning Post" reported on February 28 that this is the seventh consecutive year of decline in Hong Kong's birth rate, and it is also a record low in the 56 years since official data began to be recorded in 1966.
Some experts have analyzed that this will have a wide-ranging impact on the aging of Hong Kong's population. First, it will lead to a decrease in the number of students enrolled in various age groups, and will eventually affect the future manpower supply.
There is no sign of a turning point in this trend.
In 2020, the number of deaths in Hong Kong exceeded the number of births for the first time, by 8,700; in 2021, this figure will increase by nearly 50% to 12,900, the report cited official data.
Another data shows that the number of registered marriages in Hong Kong dropped from about 44,000 in 2019 to nearly 28,000 in 2020, and further fell to 27,000 in 2021, a historical low.
In addition, cross-border marriages between Hong Kong and the mainland plummeted from 13,262 in 2019 to 3,266 in 2020.
Ye Zhaohui, a professor of social work and social administration at the University of Hong Kong and a well-known demographer, has been sounding the alarm for Hong Kong's low birth rate for many years, saying that the number of births in Hong Kong in 2021 is "really very low".
Ye Zhaohui warned that a drop in the birth rate would have a domino effect - first affecting kindergartens, then primary and secondary schools and universities, and finally the workforce.
According to the report, Zhou Huizhen, president of the Hong Kong Early Childhood Education Staff Association, said the current situation is worse than the SARS period in 2003, when the number of newborns was 47,687, only slightly lower than the 48,119 in 2002.
She believes that if the government increases tax exemptions for newborns and children, or changes the current subsidy for half-day kindergarten expenses to full-day subsidy, it will ease the burden on working parents and hopefully reverse the decline in the low birth rate.
Yip Zhaohui said that the epidemic has reduced the willingness of couples to have children, and he does not think Hong Kong's birth rate will improve in the next three years.